Igniting the Caribbean's Past: Fire in British West Indian History. BONHAM C. RICHARDSON, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Abstract

Fire is inextricably bound up with the development of human society. The use and abuse of this source of energy, fire, has served extremely important functions in the socio-economic, political and religious life of a people. These include: the clearing of land for settlement and agricultural plots for food production, the development of transport, the provision of light and warmth, the engendering /fostering of social gatherings. Fire also served for the destruction of conquered cities; for example, when conquering the Native American civilisations, the Europeans burnt not just the cities, but everything that they conceived as pagan.